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ACHI , eSATA , Hot Swap, Hot Plug,

GeezerMan

GeezerMan

Platinum Member
Hello guys. My old NF4 Ultra board board allowed me to turn on and turn off my external eSATA drives while windows was running with no problems. These eSATA drives were plugged into the regular sata ports I read where people say in order to do this you have to enable ACHI mode in the bios AND load drivers when installing XP. BUT, I never loaded any drivers when I installed my XP on my NF4 installation. I also read not to hot swap or hot plug unless you have turned on ACHI and have loaded the drivers.

Now, I'm asking this because I'm about to use my external eSATA drive in my new PC that has a Abit I35 Pro, but the bios is set for IDE, and NOT ACHI, and I did not load any drivers upon XP Installation. Some guys say you can corrupt the XP installation if you switch the bios to ACHI mode.

So what's the truth here? Why was I able to turn on and off my external eSATA drives with no problem on my old PC if I was in IDE mode and no drivers loaded upon XP installation?

Also, the I35 board has a on board eSATA port. Is this port controlled any different than the other sata ports as far as hot swapping?

Also, is hot plug and hot swap the same thing?


Thanks
 
Also, the I35 board has a on board eSATA port. Is this port controlled any different than the other sata ports as far as hot swapping
Click to expand...

The Pro's eSATA ports are controlled by the JMicron controller. The drivers are on your MB cd.
There's no need to install any extra drivers.


Also, is hot plug and hot swap the same thing?
Click to expand...

Yep.


Good Luck!
 
Yes, I loaded the Jmicron drivers when I installed XP. Jmicron also controls the IDE as well.
I tried the eSATA port, and my external drive appeared with no problem, and disappeared when turned off.
BUT, ever since then, when booting, I get the CHKDSK screen that says my C drive needs to be checked for consistency.
May not be related, but I bet it is.
 
Unless your "C" drive is IDE, I don't see the connection.

But, then again, my seasoned eyes miss a lotta things. :laugh:
 
No connection, I just happened to notice the Jmicron controller listed in the startup screen when I installed a IDE HD DVD Rom.

Anyway, I found an entry in the XP Event Viewer I think is related to my eSATA drive. It happened about the same time I turned it on. " The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume C:"
After further reading, same say to have a eSATA drive on before you boot, and turn off after the pc is off. In my old pc, a DFI Expert board, I never had any problems turning on or off within XP.
It looks like different chipsets behave differently, and it also could be the chip in the external drive enclosure as well.
 
After further reading, same say to have a eSATA drive on before you boot, and turn off after the pc is off.
Click to expand...

That is not the behavior of a true eSATA connection.

My IP35-Pro works just as expected with eSATA, hot-swap and all.

Chipset features are incorporated differently by each manfg.

If your having trouble with one of your external drives, always troubleshoot it when connected directly to the MB.

 
oh, by the way, when you turn on your eSATA within windows, does everything stop for a few seconds?
Both of my external eSATA drives, different brands, will freeze up my PC for few seconds when I turn them on.
Like the mouse will freeze, etc.
 
Yep, sure does!

I did read an article that gave a workaround for this, but updating to the new JMicron driver brought my freezing problem down to @ 3-4 seconds.

For me, that's tolerable.
 
OK, and when you want to turn off the drive, do you first unmount it in device manger? or do you just turn it off?
Thanks
 
Originally posted by: GeezerMan
OK, and when you want to turn off the drive, do you first unmount it in device manger? or do you just turn it off?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I use the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon to disconnect the drive electronically before powering the drive down.

Just removing them without using that precaution is an invitation for a corrupted drive.
 
Originally posted by: Old Hippie
Originally posted by: GeezerMan
OK, and when you want to turn off the drive, do you first unmount it in device manger? or do you just turn it off?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I use the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon to disconnect the drive electronically before powering the drive down.

Just removing them without using that precaution is an invitation for a corrupted drive.
Click to expand...

OK, that's what I do too. I switched to my other eSATA, different brand, and so far, no errors in event viewer. So, it could be related to the external enclosure's chipset
I think my Vantec enclosure has the better chipset in it.

Thnaks..
 
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